BritRail Pass

As with our past experiences we wouldn't travel the U.K. any other way. Simply fantastic. The only hiccup was the train from Bangor on Saturday morning, Sept. 28. There was a large group going to a wedding and this train only had 2 cars. They needed 3 or possibly 4. Some people got onto the train and indicated that I was sitting in their reserved seat. It wasn't marked as such but their ticket indicated it was so. This happened to me twice. Being a nice guy I gave up my seat both times. Strange that the seats were not marked reserved. I heard that when it's busy reservations are cancelled. Is that so? Needless to say I stood until we got off at Chester and changed trains. As I said. Other than that it was great.

Our Flexi Pass saved us a little money, but was much more convenient than buying a ticket for each trip. The major downside was that we couldn't reserve tickets on line ahead of time, since you need to show your BritRail pass when making reservations.

Up from London to the Lake District, the train was on time, and we were able to sit in the First Class Car as we bought tickets. Service was good and free. However, our seat costs were wasted on the trip south from the because we learned that British Rail is unreliable. Five minutes before departure, the train leaving Windermere was cancelled because a conductor was not available. Fortunately, we were able to share a taxi to the main line for 5 GBP apiece. Then, our main train from Glasgow to London stopped for 22 minutes two miles before a change station, and we were now classless passengers without any seats, having missed our connecting train. We were now third class, seating on available seats in Second Class, until forced to move by the boarding of the person who reserved that seat.(First Class was hopelessly crowded). We had to abandon the trains and get picked up by a friend in a car. Lessons: Do not try to schedule more than one change of trains in a day. Definitely book seats. Brit Rail should return some of the cost for the second of our three day pass, as we only partially used it and did not get to use our $20 seat fee.

This was exceptionally user friendly. Buy the pass, get on the train whenever you need to for the allotted number of days. The trains run often and wherever we needed to go. Not all trains had space for luggage, so we sometimes had to keep it with us in the seats, but it worked. Beware of football matches—that was the only time we ran into congestion. All trains were comfortable & clean. All trains ran on time. We had an 8-day out of thirty pass and traveled from London to Durham, to Edinburgh, to Glasgow, to Tyndrum, to Liverpool, to Moreton-in-Marsh, and back to London. We would use it again. Personnel in stations and on trains were helpful.

I found the Brit Rail Pass especially the flexi one very useful as I wasn't travelling by rail every day. It is also good value as unfortunately I lost my credit card I was still able to continue travelling with paid up rail travel. The rail staff on all the trains and stations accepted it without question.

I was in the UK for 3 weeks and used my senior BritRail pass from Heathrow to London, to Scarborough (with 2 daytrips to York), to Newcastle (with daytrips to sites along Hadrian's wall), to Edinburgh, to Aberdeen, to Inverness, to Glasgow and back to Heathrow via London. In Glasgow I saved a lot of money by staying in the less pricey Paisley and commuting to Glasgow on the trains that ran about every 15 minutes from dawn until nearly midnight. (The trip itself was 10 minutes.) I loved the convenience of not having to stand in line to buy tickets--I just got on the train going to where I wanted to go and showed my pass. Once I got on the wrong train. It was no hassle. I didn't have to explain why I was so stupid to do it or go through any hassle exchanging tickets. I just got off the wrong train and onto the right one. This is a great way to travel. I don't know how much money I saved. I suspect I traveled for half price. But even if I just paid regular fare, the convenience made getting a pass worth it. It was a wonderful experience. I look forward to doing it again!

The BritRail pass was a great choice for our family while visiting the United Kingdom. It gave us an opportunity to travel in England, Wales and Scotland economically without having to learn to drive on the 'wrong' side of the road. The trains were timely and the staff was extremely cordial. The seats were also comfortable. We would definitely purchase this pass again when visiting the UK.

Great value compared to purchasing individual tickets. The flexibility was remarkable with many different options for trains and times. The passes were super easy to use. Did not give top ratings for comfort or service because Scot rail trains were sometimes over capacity, and not very clean. We found Virgin trains and LNER trains fantastic! We would highly recommend making seat reservations for longer journeys, as we were bumped from seats a couple of times.

We traveled from Gatwick to London to Edinburgh then Inverness and back again. For the most part it was great - my husband was in a wheelchair - we had first class tickets and it was fabulous in first class. However, there were some train employees that told us first class was too full as they rushed us onto the train and I really wondered if it was or if they were putting us in with the bikes to made their day easier. First class tickets and I had to sit on a jump seat where the bikes were....in the door way. On our last day, the train to Edinburgh did not have a working toilet in the bicycle carriage (he can't walk far enough to another car for a different toilet) - and my disabled husband had an accident at the Edinburgh station - he was mortified and in tears. The trip from Edinburgh to London there was a train problem further up the track and after an hour wait and we had to change trains. We NEVER GOT A MEAL DURING THE 9 HOUR TRAIN RIDE. Loved the muffins but it soured our trip on our last day. Frankly this isn't my first train ride in Britain, and I expected more as that was my experience on the the other 3 trips. Bad timing perhaps. I would travel again by train, but I'll be more aware of what needs to happen.

Very much enjoyed using the BritRailPass. It was easy-next time I'll get the digital version.